Adam Jones is the big fish that the Dallas Cowboys reeled in over the offseason. He’s the guy who is supposed to solidify a shaky secondary and push this defense to championship heights. He’s also supposed to turbo-charge an anemic return game on special teams. All of this is supposed to happen as soon as Jones gets reinstated by Roger Goodell. While other Cowboys stars are jet-setting around the country doing what players do in this downtime before training camp, Jones is doing what he supposed to do. And that’s staying out of trouble.

Meanwhile, cornerback Adam Jones — the player formerly known as Pacman — has remained in Dallas. He was spotted in the equipment room Tuesday and exchanged pleasantries with a reporter on his way to the locker room.

Now that’s good to hear. Much better than just dropping the name Pacman. Jones is so far living up to his end of the bargain and that’s staying out of the limelight and staying out of situations that could lead to disaster. Jerry Jones says that Adam is getting it.

"He is very committed. He is very committed physically and mentally. He is smart. He recognizes his challenge and he is really doing well."

His challenge is to not blow this second chance (or seventh chance if you want to get technical.) There’s a reason that Jones is being given this opportunity, a reason that Bob Ryan lays out in this article. In case you didn’t already know it, that reason is the guy is supremely talented. In sports, talent almost always trumps everything else. But even talent has its limits and in the new NFL Roger Goodell is trying to get that message across. So far, it appears Adam has gotten that message loud and clear.

The Cowboys big fish is doing and saying all the right things. He’s staying low-profile and staying in Dallas, going to Valley Ranch, and avoiding the temptation to "make it rain."

He’s also doing a little bit of that leisurely past-time that might help him avoid trouble. Fishing with Deion. That should be a reality show. Even in the supposedly laid-back environment that is fishing, Adam’s competitive instincts are on display.

"He was telling me he was so tired of Deion catching more fish than him that he asked a friend of mine if he knew a pro fisherman who could give him some tips," Jerry Jones recalled fondly. "He was so proud that he called me and told me that he outfished Deion. He is a competitor. He caught a big fish in the deciding catch in the competition and called me to tell me about it. That was a big deal to him."

The big fish caught the big fish.

Bradie James is the guy who will be wearing the new transmitter placed in a defensive player’s helmet. He’s determined to break it with a big hit. He’ll also have to deal with not being able to use it on third down. Like last year, he'll be watching from the sidelines as the Cowboys defense goes to its nickel/dime packages. But don’t think you’ll catch a leader like James complaining.

It's about what you do next," James said. "Do I sit over here and cry about not being on third down? Nah, I'm going to go out here and make just as many plays on first and second down."

My goodness, it seems one story is dominating the Cowboys world over the last 24 hours and it couldn’t be a more un-football worthy story if it tried. By now I’m sure everybody has heard or read the remarks Don Imus made about Adam Jones on a radio show that definitely sounded like straight-up racism. In case you haven’t seen the news, they were discussing Jones and his desire to not be Pacman any longer. Simple enough. Then they got into his multiple arrests whereupon Imus asks “What color is he?” to which the co-host replies “African-American” followed by Imus saying “Well, there you go. Now we know.”

That was taken as Imus saying because Jones is black then the idea that he’s been arrested six times is no biggie because, you know, he’s black and that’s what black people do. Given Imus’ past comments, specifically the one that got him in so much trouble with the Rutgers women’s basketball team, it was kind of a no-brainer to assume racism, just like Imus himself is a no-brainer, literally.

After I read about it I wasn’t very interested in the story. Why? Because it’s Don Imus. He’s another of the multitude of radio-hosts who I find boring and counter-productive to having any kind of serious national debate on almost any issue. Mainly because they have the intelligence of a gnat and for me to pretend to get any kind of insight on any issue listening to these gas-bags is beyond my abilities of make-believe. They exist in a world that I don’t enter and I like it that way. Don Imus? More like Don I’m Ass.

But inevitably the story made waves primarily because enough people listen to Imus that he makes corporations money and they keep him on the air. So my snobbery doesn’t mean a thing to them which is fine. We all have choices to make about how we spend our time.

Once someone contacted Adam Jones and got comment, the story was propelled forward. I have no problem with Jones defending himself and commenting on the situation, he was dragged into a conversation I’m sure he wanted no part of anyway. Here’s his statement:

"I'm truly upset about the comments," Jones said. "Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I'm upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him."

I would have love to seen Adam comeback with a statement like this: “Don Imus is just another no-talent, brain-dead, long-winded, gas-bag who is farting in the wind as far as I’m concerned. He’s a hack whose credibility on any subject is equivalent to Paula Abdul discussing string-theory.”

Imus is back on the air today saying he was actually being sarcastic and making the point that African-Americans are arrested all the time for no other reason than being African-American. He was trying to make the point that for Jones to be arrested six times just proves that idea. Thanks for the moral crusade Imus, it warms my heart to hear you’re looking out for the black community.

The point is not whether I believe that Imus was indeed making a sarcastic reference to racial-profiling or whether he was just showing his racist stripes once again, and to be clear I’d lean to the latter rather than the former. The point is why does anybody care about Don Imus? If you’re a listener to his show and find it entertaining and provocative then there’s probably nothing he can say that would sway your opinion. If you don’t listen to his show because you’ve determined that he’s a cretin with little value, then don’t give him the power to drive the discourse. Having said that from my moralistic soapbox I can’t help but notice that I just did what I preached not to do by writing this article. I tried to avoid it, but felt compelled to cover the story because everybody else was doing the same. The pack mentality has won out over common sense.

Curse you Don Imus, I fell into your trap.

OK, The Artist Formerly Known as Pacman has made it official. His old moniker is no longer viable.  

"There's really just a lot of negativity behind it," Jones said Saturday after speaking to kids at Dallas Mavericks forward Brandon Bass' camp. "It's just time for a change, man. I'm doing everything to make sure that I'm all right as a person mentally and emotionally."

The only people allowed to reference him as the most famous video game of them all are his momma, his teammates on the field and groups of kids at sports camps.

Tim Cowlishaw says the New York Giants are the still the favorites in the NFC, not our beloved Dallas Cowboys. He’s operating under the theory that the offseason turmoil the Giants are experiencing isn’t really that bad. It’s sort of hard to argue with that. We all know how the outside world perceives everything that happens at Valley Ranch and how non-stories turn into super-hyped meltdowns. So I can see that point of view. But there is also the idea that the Giants just got hot at the right time last year, and made a miraculous playoff run that belied how good their team really was. That’s no disrespect to what they accomplished last year, they earned a championship. Still, if you look at it in the context of maintaining that high level of play this year, I think it’s valid to be skeptical.

Cowlishaw works his way through explaining the Giants offseason problems and dismisses them pretty casually. On two of them, I think he missed the mark.

On Jeremy Shockey’s trade proclamations, Cowlishaw says he has no leverage because his replacement played well.

It means he knows he's expendable after watching the job last year's rookie, Kevin Boss, did throughout the playoffs when Shockey was hurt.

Expendable? Be careful here. While Kevin Boss did a fine job last year, half a season does not a stud make. You would need to see how he performs consistently over time. I’ve seen plenty of one-year wonders in this league. Plus, you’re talking about a guy who has been a lethal receiver in Shockey. As much as I hate him, he is good.

On RB Ahmad Bradshaw’s recent incarceration.

You never want to have your players in jail, but Bradshaw is serving a 30-day sentence that stems from a violation committed as a juvenile, not something he did in celebration of their Super Bowl victory.

I guess Cowlishaw didn’t read that the NFL is investigating the incident and that Bradshaw could be subject to some kind of suspension under the new regime of Roger Goodell. You can’t just brush these things off lightly in today’s environment.

The Star-T has an article where they posed five questions to three of their writers. They didn’t ask me to participate but I’m going to answer them anyway. 

Terry Glenn vs. Jerry Jones – whose side are you on?

If the Cowboys are so adamant about this that they would release Glenn, then the Dallas docs must not have any faith that Glenn will make it for the entire season. I’ve always had serious doubts that Glenn could return anyway, so I got to go with Jerry on this one.

Biggest surprise during mini-camp?

Considering I didn’t see mini-camp, I have no answer. But Miles Austin fans will be happy to know that the Star-T writers liked his performance.

Make or break season for Roy Williams?

Sort of. I think it’s only a break season if his play takes a serious decline over current levels. Jerry has made it pretty clear he’s not as disappointed in Roy as a lot of fans and media are, so it would take a really bad season for him to be released or traded next offseason.

Will Ken Hamlin get a long-term deal before camp?

I don’t know here. I get the feeling he wants more money than Jerry is willing to give and he's basing that on some of the outrageous safety contracts that were signed this offseason. If Hamlin wants that kind of money, he may have to play under the franchise tag this year and wait for next offseason and free agency. But Jerry and Stephen continue to defy my expectations in getting players signed, so it’s really 50-50.

Tony Romo – can he put the distractions to the side and focus on football?

That’s not even a real question. He always does that. The question should be can he win in December/January.

Article on Jason Witten’s kids football camp.  

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet - William Shakespeare

Thank you, Nick Eatman. This whole idea about whether Adam Jones should dump the nickname Pacman has become a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Eatman sums it up nicely in his latest article. I’m not saying that a man can’t choose his own name. BTB-regular Wmillion reminded us in the comments of a previous thread that a person has the right to be called what he wants, using the movie Coming To America to make the point.

Saul: A man has the right to change his name to vatever he vants to change it to. And if a man vants to be called Muhammad Ali, [goshdangit] this is a free country, you should respect his vishes, and call the man Muhammad Ali!

It was obvious that Jones had no intention of dropping the name Pacman when he showed up in Dallas, he made that explicitly known in his interview on the Michael Irvin radio show and confirmed it in the months that followed. Only recently has this idea been seriously floated of dropping the moniker and the men behind the curtain, Irvin and Deion Sanders, are the obvious proponents of it.

It’s great that Irvin and Sanders have taken such an interest in Jones and are trying to help him turn his life around. If they can help in that endeavor then it’s only a good thing. It helps the Cowboys as a team but it's also noble work to intercede on the behalf of somebody else and point them in the right direction. But they should quit with the pop-psychology of the whole name-game. Whether Adam uses the name Pacman or not has no bearing on his future actions.

As Eatman rightly points out, Irvin never dropped the name Playmaker and he certainly had problems that in the new NFL under Roger Goodell would have landed him in more trouble than it did in the old days. Pacman is a great nickname. In five years, when Adam has turned his life around and is winning big with the Cowboys, that nickname would serve him well. Plus, his mom gave it to him. There’s something to be said for that.

I remember when Terrell Owens came to the Cowboys. There was a push by some fans for him to drop the name T.O., to make a clean break from his past and become a new person under a new identity. That never happened and it didn’t need to. When Tank Johnson came over, there was no need for him to drop the Tank and become known as Terry Johnson. Both players have successfully shed their past without the superficial changing of their nickname. Pacman Jones can do the same thing.

If Adam Jones comes out publicly and says he doesn’t want to be called Pacman, I can respect that although I will still believe that it’s Irvin and Sanders pulling the strings. But I say to you, Adam "Pacman" Jones, be strong and be proud. Be Pacman and show us through deeds and actions that you aren’t the same guy you were a couple of years ago. Don’t try and fool us with a name change.

I know from reading the comments on the blog that a lot of you guys don’t agree with me. That’s cool, feel free to argue the point in the comments here. But I really hope that Adam Jones remains Pacman. I love the nickname, he’s loved the nickname his whole life and he shouldn’t be pressured to renounce it. Then again, I do admit, the whole thing seems silly to me in the first place.

Chris Canty wants to get paid. We all do. But Canty has done something a little unusual, he’s made no public protestations that he’s not being treated fairly; he’s attended every voluntary activity the Cowboys have held and has shown he’s a guy of high character. The Cowboys are still working on getting a deal done. Hopefully, that business will be concluded sometime soon.

"Obviously, I would like that financial security as soon as possible," he said. "It doesn’t necessarily work out in the timing that you want all the time, but I’m confident that something will get done in the near future."

Is the Breerman, Alber Breer, leaving the DMN? According to this blog from a guy who covers the Boston sports media, he is. 

Former MetroWest Daily News writer and Patriots beat guy, Albert Breer, will be leaving the Dallas Morning News on June 26 to take a national job with The Sporting News on July 7. Breer, 28, will be moving back to his native Boston (a Lincoln-Sudbury graduate of 1998) and be based here for TSN. "This is what I want to do," said Breer. "My goal has been to cover the league, not just one team, and that’s what I’ll be doing now."

If it’s true, congrats Breer. I enjoyed your work on the DMN blog. Now who is Timmy Mac going to fight with?

Jason Hatcher in his hometown newspaper.

"I'm looking to have more playing time — if not start," Hatcher said. "Hopefully, I'll be starting."

[snip]

"As of right now, they've got me playing on both sides right end and left end," Hatcher said. "I was talking to my defensive line coach, and he was saying that they're going to let me use my strengths to help the defense out. They're going to put me in and let me do what I do best rush the passer and stop the run when I can."

A while ago our very own BTB-regular 5Blings had a FanPost about the teams with the best corners in the league. Today Clark Judge took on DeAngelo Hall’s assertion that he and Nnamdi Asomugha are the best duo of corners in the league. Typical Hall, that guy is always promoting himself – and overrating himself. So Judge presented five teams who might have a better duo of corners and the Cowboys made the list. Even though we made the list, there wasn’t a whole lot of praise for Terence Newman and Pacman Jones (I guess they’re also assuming that Jones will supplant Anthony Henry). Take this quote for instance

"Newman is a good, solid corner," said an AFC player personnel director, "but I don't consider him special. Pacman has special qualities, but he's a ding-a-ling. He's a better player than Bly, but he will take the same chances. Yes, he makes spectacular plays, but he also gives up big plays."

Eh, I consider Newman pretty special. I try not to engage in homerism but in this case I don’t think I am. Newman can cover anybody in this league and although he doesn’t make a lot of interceptions, he rarely gets beat, either. Remember that stretch a couple of years ago when he went for a season-and-a-half of not giving up a TD? That’s pretty special. And how about the time he shutdown Steve Smith so badly that Smith got thrown out of the game in frustration.

Now, with Pacman, it’s still up in the air. He has the natural talent to be as good as most, but we just have to see him do it consistently.

But back to Newman. Maybe that AFC player personnel director should check out this article about Newman that Brandon posted yesterday.

But Terence Newman can match any of these cornerbacks step-for-step, play-for-play. This is a very special football player. The ardent football follower knows him.

‘Nuff said.

*Disclaimer: I'm waiting for Adam "Pacman" Jones to come out and say for himself that he doesn't want to be called Pacman anymore. Until he says it, I'm not listening to reports that he wants that. He said in the Michael Irivn interview that he didn't mind it because that's the nickname his momma gave him. If he says he doesn't want the name Pacman, I really want to call him Donkey Kong Jones instead because I loved that game as a kid and it sounds funny. But I'll go with whatever he wants, i guess.

Dr. Z isn’t feeling us. 

Dallas is the winter-book favorite. The Cowboys are loading up with all sorts of fancy names -- Zach Thomas, who has already carved out a place for himself in Miami's Hall of Fame, 'Pacman' Jones, whose pardon from the league office seems to be coming an inch at a time. Marion Barber got a new contract that stunned him by its magnificence. So did cornerback Terence Newman. They even gave Terrell Owens enough money to make him happy.

This is their year, right? Sorry, but I just don't feel it.

Who does he feel? The Vikings. I can’t go with that, Tarvaris Jackson is not leading them to the Super Bowl this year.

This sums up about as succintly as possible my feelings about Chris Canty and Marcus Spears. 

[Chris] Canty blossomed as a run stopper and even showed a little pass-rush prowess last season and is viewed by the staff as a critical piece of the team’s front seven, likely more so than Marcus Spears, who was drafted three rounds before Canty in 2005.

That’s the difference. Spears does an OK job of holding the point of attack against the run, but he rarely makes the tackle and even more rarely puts pressure on the QB. I just think we can do better.

Mini-camp is over and now we’re stuck with a month or so of dead time. Blah. But I’m sure there will be the occasional Romo’s girlfriend story to liven things up.

Here are a few items for your perusal:

Romo is a competitor, whether on the field or on the links. 

Mickey Spags gives some love to Sam Hurd  while Todd Archer gives some love to Hurd and Miles Austin. 

Here’s another take on the man, DeMarcus Ware, getting bigger and stronger while maintaining his quickness. 

The Star-T looks at the five biggest offseason stories.

Marcus Spears says he doesn’t care about critics. Has he been reading this blog?

Another “Cornerback” Jones trying to make good story . 

And finally, there’s Redskins TE Chris Cooley. I was checking out his blog a little earlier this week because SB Nation’s fine Washington blog, Hogs Haven, had mentioned it.  Cooley is one good blogger. In his 10 questions with Jason Campbell he asked him about decontaminating his hand after sticking it under center Casey Rabach’s butt for two hours in practice. You got to give the guy credit for that question. But I forgot to mention this Q&A until the DMN blog reminded me. 

5. What would it look like if you and Tony Romo got into a fight? I have to say it would look like, I would be the hulk standing 6'5" and Romo would be like Spiderman, jumping around all over the place. I'm really not worried about getting into a fight with Romo. I think Jessica Simpson and the Cowboy fans are enough for him to handle.

Tank Johnson is finally feeling comfortable with the Dallas Cowboys and his old personality is coming out. He was known as a jokester and a fun-loving guy when he was with the Chicago Bears and was very popular in the locker room. Coming off his suspension last year in Dallas he toned everything down as he tried to fit in with his new team and get back in the good graces of The Commish. Now, he sounds like he’s ready to go and have a big season. I always thought we got a steal when we signed him to a meager contract and that he would eventually become the starter. But I also didn’t know that Jay Ratliff would be as good as he was in the middle and now there’s a real battle going on. Tank has upped his game to the level where the Cowboys can now consider using Rat at DE.

But the one thing I didn’t count on, and Wade Phillips mentioned he wasn’t counting on it either, is that Tank is a leader. We’ve all heard about Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin trying to show "Video Game" Jones the way to redemption, but in the locker room, it’s been Tank who has taken him under his wing. The Cowboys put their lockers together, probably with the idea that if anybody knows what Jones has been through it’s Tank. He’s taken to the task well.

Here’s Tank on leadership : 

"For me to be a leader, on the field and off the field, in the weight room and just around the facility, is important," Johnson said. "I'm just trying to do my part and just stay consistent. ... I put in enough work this offseason to let them know what I am going to contribute this year in a big way."

He says a lot more in that article and this one that shows he gets what’s expected of him. I’m looking for the guy to really help our defense this year. 

Patrick Crayton and Sam Hurd were asked about the Terry Glenn situation by the media. They said they want him back and that he’s a great receiver. But in the back of their minds, do you think they might be thinking – retirement’s not so bad, Terry. You need your knee for later in life. We can take it from here.

Some Q&A where Zach Thomas and Isaiah Stanback are discussed. 

Nick Eatman drops the news that leads to all kinds of speculation. I stated that I thought by early in the season we could have a new starting cornerback. But it might be happening quicker than that. Of course, it’s just practice and teams try all kinds of things in OTA’s and camps, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

In more than one drill, both individual and team, the Cowboys worked cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones in at first-team right cornerback, replacing veteran Anthony Henry at times.

I think there is some significance to this. You don’t just start moving around guys on the depth-chart for no reason at all. Even Anthony Henry reads some significance into it.

"I've been playing in this league for eight years. I'm not blind to it," Henry said of Jones replacing him at practice. "I knew what time it was when the transaction happened at the draft. I already knew what time it was. It's just a matter of when. And maybe when is now."

Meanwhile, all reports are that TE Martellus Bennett has been struggling with learning the Cowboys playbook and the NFL game in general.

"College football is a whole lot easier," Bennett said. "Less thinking, less knowledge of the game - you just really just go out there and play every weekend. Now, you've got to go out there and read everything. Man, this is like college times 20."

You schedule a mini-camp at Valley Ranch and you’re going to get news and lots of it. You gotta love that about the Dallas Cowboys, whatever they do produces storylines for the media. No wonder Hard Knocks wanted back in with the ‘Boys.

Everybody is weighing-in on the Terry Glenn kafuffle. Jerry Jones is indicating that Terry Glenn and his former agent, who he recently fired, had agreed to the split-contract but now Glenn is going back on that arrangement. From Glenn’s point of view that never happened and he’s always told the Cowboys that there would be no change to his deal. 

"I wanted to play with the guys that I knew, at least the core guys," Glenn said. "But when I saw the [split salary], I felt like I was no longer going to be a Cowboy. ... I wish I wasn't in this situation, and I don't like the attention."

Yesterday I posted that I didn’t think Glenn had much chance of getting decent compensation from another team but I do admit I didn’t completely entertain the motivations of the Tuna. It’s true that Glenn is a Parcells Guy and that the team in South Florida just might be a viable destination for him. But I still say that it would be at a minimum contract for a veteran and there’s still the very real problem of his knee. At this moment it’s not a sure thing that he could pass a physical for another team. Still, the Tuna could take a look at getting him signed if the Cowboys follow through on their threat to release Glenn. But if Jerry Jones is going to hold on to Glenn until at least the end of August, that makes things very tough for his future.

I also posited yesterday that Glenn has no leverage in this situation. Today, JFE disagrees and says all the leverage is in Glenn’s court. This only makes me more confident that I am right. Her reasoning is that the Cowboys didn’t address the WR situation in the offseason and that they are one T.O. injury away from being neutered on offense. I could pull the "one injury away" argument with a lot of players on the team. Plus, she seems to forget that Terry Glenn is one injury away from not playing and that injury appears to have a high likelihood of happening.

NFL.com has an article with the theme that the Cowboys are all about "the finish" this year. Finishing plays, finishing games, and most importantly, finishing the season. I like this train of thought. The Cowboys have the personnel in place to do serious damage in the regular season and the playoffs, but they haven’t shown the mentality to make the kill in the postseason yet.

QB coach Wade Wilson is setting the stage for Tony Romo to think along the same lines. 

Not long after the Dallas Cowboys’ season ended, quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson laid it out for Tony Romo in a language he speaks as well as he does football — golf.

"You’re Phil Mickelson before he won his first major," Wilson said. "He’s accomplished as a great golfer like Romo has done everything as a quarterback in the regular season; Pro Bowls, things like that. But he needs to win a major — so win a playoff game or a Super Bowl. He’s certainly capable of doing that, it’s just a matter of him doing that."

I know some of you don’t like to hear it but for Romo to ascend to that next echelon of QB’s he’s got to get it done in the postseason. Sure he’s still young in terms of seasons played and there is plenty of time to left in his career, but with the team he has around him the expectations are to win now. So far, the end of the year has been a rough time for our superstar QB.

Here comes the but: When December begins through the playoffs, Romo is 4-7, is slightly less than a 60 percent passer and has 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.

You can lay out reasons for that record and production but excuses are not what we want to hear. I think the world of Romo and believe that he will lead us to the mountaintop but until it happens, questions will linger. You can say that Peyton Manning took a while to get it done but you can also counter that Tom Brady got it done right away. I’m really not interested in making comparisons to other QB’s and playing the stats game, or the experience game, or any other contextual parameter you want to put on it; I just want Romo to get it done. I believe he will.

So Pacman Jones no longer wants to be known as Pacman Jones. I smell some PrimeTime influence here. I have always thought the idea that changing his name will somehow make him a new person and wash away the past is just silly. I mean, did anybody actually call Prince "symbol", or "the artist formerly known as…" in anything but mocking terms when he tried the whole name change thing? If Pacman doesn’t want to be called Pacman, I guess I can honor that. But Adam Jones just sounds so boring for such a dynamic player on the field. So I put together a poll looking for a new nickname on the right-hand bar. I included his regular name, but that’s no fun!

NFL.com video report from yesterday.

T.O.’s absence is reportedly because of a death in the family.

There’s a mini-camp this week, Tuesday through Thursday in case you’d forgotten. Woo hoo! One step closer to what we all want – actual NFL football being played again. It won’t be long until we’re talking about training camp, position battles and who is getting way too much face time on Hard Knocks. I actually got a little pumped this weekend when I was watching the U.S. Open. Why? Because they showed some promos for Sunday Night Football on NBC. It really started to hit home that football season isn’t that far away. It was especially nice because one of the clips on the promo was Jason Witten’s Headless Horseman impression. 

Yes, I’m ready for some football.

The Cowboys’ rookies visited Canton, Ohio for the Pro Football Hall of Fame tour last Friday. Since we open the season with the Cleveland Browns, a local Canton paper took the time to talk to some Cowboys players about their expectations for the season and what they knew about the Browns.

First round draft pick Mike Jenkins had this to say about the Cowboys defense.

"I feel like it can be one of the best defenses that ever played the game," he said. "We're filled with talent at each position, starters and backups."

Whoa big fella. One of the best defenses that ever played the game? Another Doomsday? Or Steel Curtain? Or the Ravens from earlier this decade? That sure would be nice but let’s take it one step at a time and create a defense that is at least the equal of the Cowboys offense. Mainly, a team that can create timely turnovers and that can get off the field on third down. If we can just do that, in addition to stopping the run like last year, then this team should have no problems winning big. And when I say win big, I mean in December/January, not just a 13-3 regular season record.

This was an interesting line from the author of the article.

[Bobby] Carpenter, a No. 18 overall draft pick in 2006, a backup? That's depth.

That’s one way of describing it. Another way might be bust.

But you got to like what Felix Jones had to say. They asked Mike Jenkins what he knew about the Browns team this year and he admitted that it wasn’t much. But El Gato had a different take.

The Cowboys' other 2008 first-round pick, Felix Jones, apparently knows a lot about the Browns. He said he has watched the Browns' last three 2007 games in anticipation of the opener.

"The Browns are a pretty good football team," Jones said while touring the enshrinees gallery. "But I'd rather talk about the Cowboys. We're gonna come up here and we're gonna play 'em hard."

Nice to hear he’s watching film, and not just Iron Man .

Sam Hurd is trying to climb the depth chart and the absence of Terry Glenn in OTA’s so far has meant more opportunity for Hurd. 

"It's an opportunity for me to move into the limelight," said Hurd, 23. "It's an opportunity for me to become a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 receiver. Terrell (Owens) and Terry always tell me work hard, go for that No. 1 spot. Don't settle for less. Don't settle to be in the back seat."

Over at the Boston Globe they noted that the first batch of draft picks in the 2005 draft hasn’t exactly worked out. Sure there are a few like Braylon Edwards who have emerged and others like Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams who have shown talent but have fought injuries. But some others have been total busts. And then there’s the tricky one who is considered a bust but for the wrong reasons, #6 pick Pacman Jones. He’ll be trying to resurrect his career in Dallas and if he does, the 2005 draft might be a forgettable one for some franchises but it won’t be for Dallas. The article makes this notation.

In a do-over, Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware (No. 11) would probably be the No. 1 pick.

Nice. If Pacman returns to form then the Cowboys will have two players out of the top of that draft anchoring our defense. For the record, here was our 2005 draft class.

Demarcus Ware
Marcus Spears
Kevin Burnett
Marion Barber
Chris Canty
Justin Beriault
Rob Petitti
Jay Ratliff

I think it’s safe to say that the Cowboys hit the jackpot in 2005. Take a look at those names. Ware is our all-world pass-rushing linebacker. While disappointing in my eyes, Spears is a starter at defensive end. Burnett came on last year and found a niche at inside linebacker. Barber just re-upped to be our starting running back for years to come. Canty came on last year at defensive end and hopefully will be signed to a long-term contract soon. Beriault’s career was cut short by injury and Petitti was let go. But Ratliff was just singed long-term and has been a terror on the defensive line. Add Pacman Jones to that list and the 2005 draft was one sweet haul for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys and Seahawks in the NFC Championship game? I don’t know, I kind of see Seattle starting to slip but they could rebound this year. Then again, they’re depending on Julius Jones so I have my doubts.

NFL.com has 10 records that they think will never be broken. One of them involves the Cowboys. Can you guess what it is without looking? I’ll give you a hint – Jerry Jones put an end to this record.